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Duck
Montague (affectionately known as "Duck" because of his supposed waddle) is a Great Western pannier tank engine. Bio Duck was built at Swindon in March 1929 as the Paddington Station Pilot. He carried a worksplate that read “North British Locomotive Company Ltd. No.23859. Queen’s Park Works Glasgow 1929”. As carried by the GWR 5700 Class’ 0-6-0PT 5741 that emerged from Works in March 1929 under Lot 256 at a contract price of £2,888. Initially allocated to Aberbeeg, she moved to Newport Ebbw in 1934, Ebbw Junction in December 31, 1947 and August 1950, Aberdare in 1952, and finally Newport Pill in 1956. Duck worked at Paddington before moving to Sodor in 1955 to take over Percy's shunting duties, leaving the latter free to assist with the construction of Knapford Harbour. Duck was a hard worker, but the others mistook his work ethic for simplicity and tried to use this to their advantage. They soon found their mistake when Duck and Percy took revenge on them by barring them from the shed. Duck was withdrawn from the Swindon Pool on 3rd June 1957 after running 569,001 miles in service. When Diesel arrived, the others took a liking to his flattery in 1957, but Duck was doubtful and left Diesel to his own devices, which resulted in the latter getting into mishap with some rusty trucks. Diesel vowed to get revenge, and, inspired by several incidents occurring around the yard in Duck’s absence, spread rumours that Duck had given offensive nicknames to the others. Duck was sent to work as a "banker" at Wellsworth pending further injury, and after bravely stopping a runaway goods train at his own risk regained the respect of the others. Of course, by this time the others were aware that the matter of all Diesel's fault, but Duck's triumph certainly helped. Duck was cut up at Swindon by June 14th 1958, and was rebuilt and came back to Sodor. In 1964, The Fat Controller believed that the work in the yard was a fairly lowly job for an engine like Duck, and he was given a branchline to himself. Duck continued working on the main line until 1968, at which time the Tidmouth-Arlesburgh branchline - nicknamed "The Little Western" - was restored and Duck was asked to run it with help from Oliver, and Donald and Douglas on occasion. Apparently, if Barry is ever introduced into the Railway Series he will also work on Duck's branchline. Persona Duck is a loyal, wise engine and a hard worker who does his work without fuss. His personal philosophy and motto is "there are two ways of doing things: the Great Western way, or the wrong way". Basis Duck is based on a GWR 57xx 0-6-0 pannier tank with added sand boxes, designed by Charles B. Collet and built at Swindon Works in 1929, approx. 31 ft 2 in long. Livery Duck is painted in the GWR's green livery with yellow lining and black wheels, splashers and pipes. He has the letters "GWR" written on his pannier tanks and on each side of his boiler in yellow and red, and a gold brass safety valve cover. Before 1968, Duck carried a brass GWR numberplate on his cab sides (5741); since 1968, he has a yellow "8" painted on each side of his cab and on each end of his boiler, near his footplate in yellow with a red border. Voice Actors *William Hope (US) Hero of the Rails onwards) *Keith Wickham (UK) (Hero of the Rails onwards) *Kōzō Shioya (Japan) Trivia *The Reverend W. Awdry's model of Duck explains his name: when the model for Duck was purchased for Awdry's model railway, it was soon discovered that its wheels were uneven, hence giving him a "waddling" gait. He was promptly christened "Duck" by Awdry's children. *Recent information has revealed that there really was a 5741 on the Great Western Railway.